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Archive for May, 2017

I recently finished a fascinating and provocative book by Jonathan Taplin called Move Fast and Break Things. Taplin cast the storied tensions between creatives and technologists in a new light and changed my perspective on some contemporary issues such as safe harbor and the so-called YouTube value gap.

Although spiritually I might identify more with creatives, intellectually and professionally I am unquestionably a technologist. In truth, I fancy myself something of an intermediary, and in this blog, I have often tried to reconcile the disparate interests of the two group. So after reading Taplin’s book, it seemed only appropriate, once again, to update the views I have expressed here in light of some of the points that he made.

Like this:

The recorded music industry has entered a new era. Paid streaming recently passed a symbolic threshold of 100 million listeners, and with ad supported listening included, streaming now accounts for approximately half of all recorded music revenues in the US. Inflection points are opportune times to revisit old assumptions and update hypotheses for what the future still holds. So with all that in mind, I wanted to look back at some of my older posts, now with the benefit of hindsight, and consider some of the latest tech trends influencing where the music industry is headed in this new era. (more…)